Fix your posture and eliminate back pain with this wearable widget

We’ve become slaves to technology. Many of us spend all day hunched over our laptops, surfing the web, responding to emails, and reading new restaurant reviews. When we’re done with work we go back home just to repeat the entire process – this time with our mobile phones or tablets. Minimal human interaction is celebrated rather than bemoaned.

As a result, we’ve transformed into a generation of slouchers. We slouch when typing on our laptops, composing WhatsApp messages, or playing Clash of Clans. And we think nothing of it.

That’s despite studies which suggest bad posture can cause depression, career problems, and increase risk of contracting diseases. In short, bad posture can have adverse effects on your physical, mental, and emotional health.

Tel Aviv-based UpRight has engineered a wearable tech solution that’ll help overcome the problem. Its device attaches to your back in a non-invasive manner and uses sensors to ensure you maintain a correct, upright posture. If you slouch in any way, the device will vibrate gently until your posture is corrected.

“It’s an idea I had for about nine to ten years,” Oded Cohen, CEO of UpRight, tells Tech in Asia. “My mom is a sloucher and I am also. I was looking for a way to help her but I couldn’t work on execution because I was busy working and making a living.”

But around 3 years ago Oded finally got his chance to work on moving his idea from concept to reality. He wrote down a business plan and hired an engineering team to start developing the product. “The idea was to make something small that monitors your vertebrae,” he adds.

Building the device proved to be more complicated than he had originally envisioned. It took his team two years and five prototypes before they were able to come up with a device that resembled a viable product. The early prototypes were just sensors connected to a desktop – a far cry from the aesthetically-pleasing design the startup has today.

Huge problem to solve

Oded claims he works closely with a “team of experts” that have continually advised him on the efficiency of his device. Furthermore, the feedback he’s gotten from potential users has been extremely encouraging. “The magnitude of the problem is that in general eighty percent of the population suffers from back pain before the age of 50, and its increasing all the time. Everyone I meet indicates they want my device, either for themselves or someone in their circle,” he asserts.

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How the device functions seems fairly straightforward, but Oded claims it’s “very complicated” to manufacture. Attached in the box is an adhesive tape which can be used to stick the device on your back. When first installed, the device will require you to calibrate it, so that it can determine your upright posture. Any slouching and it’ll start vibrating until you resume an upright stance. Oded takes pains to demonstrate how the device is completely non-intrusive and hides below your attire so that it’s not apparent you’re wearing one.

It’s not necessary to wear the device at all times. Oded says the product should be viewed as a “training device,” which teaches you how to maintain an upright posture. In the beginning, most users aren’t able to wear the device for more than five or ten minutes as they’re not comfortable with maintaining an erect stance. It takes time to adapt, but within 3 to 6 weeks, there’s a massive improvement. Eventually, the device is only used sparingly, and correct posture becomes an intuitive habit.